Sun Ra - August 17, 1971 "I Roam The Cosmos"

I expect this will be a real treat for the hard-core Sun RAdiophiles.  I hope you will enjoy this as we mark the anniversary of Ra's harmonic assimilation with the infinite.

These stereo recordings are from Michael D. Anderson's personal tape archive.  He gives the date of the performances as August 17, 1971 and  believes that they were probably recorded at Slug's in NYC.  These remarkable performances are from the same concert as the Saturn LP UNIVERSE IN BLUE and are presented in Stereo, unlike the LP which was released in Mono.  Originally, these tracks were quite long -- 2 at 30+ minutes each, an the 3rd at nearly an hour so I've taken the liberty of breaking them into shorter segments and adding what I consider are appropriate titles.  Rest assured, no material was lost or removed during the editing.

In the summer of 2008, “The Good Doctor” at ESP-Disk’ produced a six-part internet radio tribute to Sun Ra which included over two hours of music from this concert -- recorded in stereo, amazingly enough. Even more surprising, “Universe in Blue Pts.1&2” is presented uncut and it sounds much better than my “needle-drop” of the LP. (Curiously, the rest of Universe in Blue is not found on the broadcast, adding further confusion about possible recording dates.) After some polite applause, a fifteen-minute “Intergalactic Research” follows with another extended tenor workout from Gilmore. “Discipline 27” allows the full ensemble to shine on this sweetly harmonized swing number. The thirty-minute “Blackman” is very different from the LP version, beyond its extraordinary length. Without introduction, Tyson begins by singing a cappella with Marshall Allen soon joining in on some wiggly oboe. Allen then takes over with a thrilling solo as a roiling groove is built up in the rhythm section, Pat Patrick leading the band with the hypnotic three-note riff on baritone sax. Suddenly, a male voice (Eloe Omoe?) starts yodeling and carrying on hysterically, compelling Tyson to resume her incantatory singing. At the eleven minute mark, Ra embarks on a lengthy declamation, assuming the role of the resurrected Pharaoh, who has returned from outer space to lead his people back to Egypt, away from "the path of destruction." “Destiny rules and fate decides and I command both of them!” he exclaims. After twenty minutes of feverish ranting, the piece ends quietly with tick-tock-ing percussion and distant, muted trumpet. Another fifty-three minute segment posthumously entitled, “I Roam the Cosmos,” starts out with a brief solo statement from Danny Davis followed by Tyson singing the newly composed “Astro Black” over a massively slowed-down “Love in Outer Space”-type groove. Soon after, Ra begins hectoring the audience about the usual subjects: race, outer space, and doing the impossible -- “Give up your death for me!” he insists at one point, with Tyson echoing virtually every word of his tirade. Meanwhile, the Arkestra noodles around on the two-chord vamp with Hadi and Akh Tal Ebah providing running commentary on trumpet and flugelhorn, respectively. Overlong, it does get a bit tedious, but Ra’s preaching is simultaneously terrifying and laugh-out-loud funny.

from Nuvoid's Sun Ra Sunday Universe in Blue review

I Roam The Cosmos

August 17, 1971

                                        1. Universe in Blue                14:03
                                        2. Intergalactic Research            11:29
                                        3. Discipline 27                11:14
                                  4. I Roam the Cosmos - Sax Intro        1:08
                                  5. I Roam the Cosmos - D27II            5:24
                                  6. I Roam the Cosmos - Declamation pt 1    7:06
                                  7. I Roam the Cosmos - Declamation pt 2    11:55

                                  8. I Roam the Cosmos - Declamation pt 3    10:57

                                  9. I Roam the Cosmos - Declamation pt 4    7:04
                                10. I Roam the Cosmos - Declamation pt 5    5:46
                                11. I Roam the Cosmos - Declamation pt 6    3:36
                                      12. Blackman - Intro                11:37
                                      13. Blackman - Declamation            14:19
                                      14. Blackman - Outro                4:16

I Roam The Cosmos has now been officially released with greatly improved sound quality.